On the Mediterranean coast there was much more to see than before in the area around Ankara. While there was still snow in the mountains, there was now best spring weather with temperatures above 20 degrees in April. Everything was full of millennia-old ruins of ancient cities to visit.
Cappadocia to Mersin
Our next destination was now Mersin, located in the south of Turkey. We first wanted to go further east, but finally decided against it, because there was just before a big earthquake with over 50,000 dead. We didn’t want to get into the situation of aftershocks there and besides, the infrastructure was missing everywhere. So we decided to go first to Mersin and from there along the Mediterranean coast towards Izmir.
Cappadocia
In Cappadocia we decided to stay two nights, so we had a full day to go on excursion in the area. The day started with an excursion to the underground caves. We eventually continued with a visit to Kayasehir Fortress, some more smaller ancient rock dwellings and finally two more rock castles.
Kirikkale to Cappadocia
This time a vacation expedition to a country new to me. Turkey promised to offer a lot and also quite cheap and not far away from Europe. We landed in Ankara and went first with our rental car to Kirikkale, because we first had something to do. There we stayed in an extremely small and so smelly after smoke room that I could hardly sleep. Fortunately, the next day we continued via Hatussa to Cappadocia.
Coromandel Peninsula
My last day in New Zealand took me from Whangarei towards Auckland Airport. The next day I had to be early at the airport and so I booked a room as cheap as possible and close to it. That gave actually and still unexpectedly the possibility to visit the Coromandel Peninsula.
Around Whangarei
My last day in the north and finally already my second to last day in New Zealand. So I decided to go exploring around Whangarei. The area consisted of a myriad of small islands and fjords, countless lonely beaches and remote areas.
Cape Reinga
After my unexpectedly quite long drive to the north, I decided to drive to the northernmost point of the North Island of New Zealand the very next day in the morning. This is Cape Reinga. To the north it gets warmer and sub-tropical and I had expected a lot from the ride. Ultimately, the trip dragged on a bit, but was quite varied.
Driving North
Finally, I was able to continue north after the cyclone. The choice of the destination was not easy at all, because at first it was completely unclear how the situation is in the north. There has been the greatest damage. So I made some calls to find out that some destinations were not reachable at all and were advised against a trip. There were floods and landslides, power outages and more. Whangarei, however, was accessible and so I booked an overnight stay there and tried to get to the north via Auckland.